Over the last few weeks, Nigella Lawson has shared not one, not two, but three posts about a particular London restaurant on Instagram, each one more fervent than the last.
In her first post about Dove in Notting Hill, the 65-year-old cook claimed it served the ‘best pork chop’ she’d ever eaten. So good was the pork that it had reduced her to ‘mesmerised inarticulacy’ and she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The second lamented about the ‘dream’ starter of a potato pizzette, which she cheekily described as a ‘potato pancake crossed with a plump pizza dough’ topped with mortadella and ‘quiveringly bulging’ burrata.
And finally she praised a ‘sensational’ Gorgonzola Burger which has garnered such a cult following that it’s practically impossible to get hold of one – just 10 are available each day and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
As someone who considers the words of Queen Nigella to be foodie gospel, I knew I needed to visit Jackson Boxer’s restaurant immediately, so I booked myself in for lunch last Saturday and made sure to get a table as close to the opening time as possible.
The doors opened at 12pm and I arrived promptly at 12:30pm but alas, I was already too late to try the viral £18 burger, it had completely sold out.
What makes the burger so special? It’s made with incredibly good quality meat – trimmings from Dove’s 50-day Highland Beef Rib that’s a staple elsewhere on the menu. There’s just enough excess meat leftover from it to create 10 burgers each day, with the rib getting mixed with brisket, chuck and aged beef fat to create the patty.
This is topped with a young Gorgonzola Dolce from northern Italy and finished with a condiment made from onions that’s cooked for six hours in caramelized butter before being served on a toasted potato roll.
It’s an off-menu dish you’ll only find on the restaurant’s blackboard and there’s no way to pre-order one ahead of time. You can’t bribe staff with a large sum of money to save you one (people have tried and failed) and even journalists or influencers doing a review aren’t able to beat the system and request special treatment – something I wholeheartedly respect.
As such, I’m unable to confirm whether or not the burger lives up to the hype, but I can tell you that Nigella wasn’t wrong about the pork chops… at least, not completely.
They’re tender and juicy with a tangy sauce that I couldn’t stop dunking the duck fat fries into. And while a portion for two might cost £60, there’s a LOT of meat on the plate – you certainly won’t go hungry if you order this.
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I do have to confess though, I think Nigella enjoyed the pork chops more than me. They’re very good, I’ll give her that, but they didn’t render me speechless and I haven’t been dreaming about them all week.
And if I’m being really honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the pizzette. I loved the idea of it – especially the fried potato base – but as a whole it was too salty for my palette (I blame the smoked bonito mayonnaise). I’ve also decided mortadella isn’t for me – it just tastes like fancy Billy Bear ham.
Sorry Nigella.
The overall verdict
Nestled a few streets over from the bustling Portobello Road, Dove is rather minimal in terms of design. Neutral coloured walls, wooden tables, rattan chairs and some splashes of terracotta-coloured upholstery make up the inside. It’s cosy and inviting.
At 12:30pm on a Saturday in May, the restaurant is packed, with tables spilling out onto the street. But inside diners aren’t missing out on the sun, as there’s a giant skylight in the ceiling that fully opens up when the weather is nice.
The food isn’t the cheapest, but the cost will vary depending on what you order and some of the more expensive dishes are intended for sharing, so you can split the cost with a pal. Prices start from £4 for olives and pickles and rises to £96 for the Beef Sirloin Chop that serves two/three people.
While I might not have been the biggest fan of everything I tried at Dove, there’s no denying that the food looks incredible on plates. It’s simple and elegant with no OTT garnishes or unnecessary add-ons. It’s obvious that Jackson and the team take what they do there very seriously and are trying to create something special.
For me, it wasn’t what I expected. The reality of the meal didn’t quite live up to the resplendent picture Nigella painted of it on social media, but as we all know, taste is subjective.
I’m not fussed about going back for the pork chops again, but I will be making it my mission to nab one of the burgers soon. After trying the ‘world’s best’ burger recently, I need to know how this one compares…
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